February 8 News Items

West Virginia Guard Unit Delivers for NASA (Source: Charleston Daily Mail)
A West Virginia Air National Guard unit has helped NASA work on returning to the moon. The space agency called on the 167th Airlift Wing to deliver equipment for a spacecraft that it hopes to use for a moon launch one day. Fifteen members of the Martinsburg-based unit delivered the Ares 1-X test crew module to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida late last month. Col. Roger Nye, who commanded the mission says the unit is part of history. (2/8)

Florida Guard Unit Supports Range Technology (Source: ERAU)
Florida's Air National Guard in 2004 acquired responsibility for multiple Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology (BMRST) systems for test and deployment at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and other locations. The BMRST system is used to track space vehicles during launches at Cape Canaveral. BMRST enables the citizen-airmen to track and if necessary assist in destroying rockets or launch vehicles after liftoff. Defense contractor Honeywell built the systems. (2/8)

Space States' Lieutenant Governors Forum Planned at Colorado Symposium (Source: Space Foundation)
An invitation-only forum including the Lieutenant Governors of space states will be held on March 30 during the 25th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The symposium is sponsored by the Space Foundation. (2/8)

Florida Stands Out in FAA Report on State Space Incentives (Source: Space Florida)
The FAA has released a “State Support for Commercial Space Activities Report” which reviews the incentives provided by 16 states currently involved in planning for the future of commercial space initiatives. Within the report, Florida and Virginia were highlighted as the top two states to have already secured robust legislative and space transportation incentives to foster commercial space industry growth. According to the report, Florida’s location, developed space transportation infrastructure and proven spaceport capabilities makes it a standout from competing states. The report focused primarily on state-generated incentives for the 16 competing states.

Florida's stand-out incentives include: a Targeted Industry Tax Refund of up to $5,000 per new job created, or $7,500 in an Enterprise Zone; an Economic Development Transportation Fund for transportation infrastructure (including space); a Capital Investment Tax Credit; and a Quick Action Closing Fund for cash grants to companies that agree to create a significant amount of high-value jobs in targeted industries, including space. (2/7)

Space Florida Completes Upgrades to RLV Hangar at Spaceport (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida is pleased to announce the completion of a three-year/$1.8 million project to finalize upgrades to the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Hangar, located near the Space Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. Current tenants of the RLV include a jet demonstration team and a NASA Constellation contractor. Space Florida is currently in discussions to lease some of the remaining capacity to fueled aircraft clients. (2/5)

'Comets Responsible for Originating Life on Earth' (Source: The Hindu)
There is growing evidence that life on earth has come from the universe through comets, an eminent British scientist said. "Life is cosmically abundant and was brought to the earth by comets and our genes and those of all living forms on earth were brought by comets, neatly-packaged within cosmic microorganisms," professor N Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director, Cardiff Center for Atrobiology, said.

The astrobiologist speaking at Nehru Planetarium said, "Our genetic ancestors still lurk amidst the stars, and molecular biology is being deployed to trace connections between different species in search of a Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) for all life on the Earth." The evidence for organic molecules that may be relevant to life emerged after passage of Comet Halley in 1986. Giotto spacecraft instruments showed that the comet dust contained high molecular weight complex organics that could be connected with degraded biomaterial. (2/8)

The Tools for the Job (Source: Baltimore Sun)
You need to remove some screws. While floating in a vacuum, wearing big gloves. Goddard makes all the tools you need. At home, you might find Matt Ashmore reaching into his tool chest for the right socket wrench to speed up the restoration of his 1969 Dodge Polara. But at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the 30-year-old aerospace engineer has spent the past several years developing a sleek new power screwdriver for spacewalking NASA astronauts. They'll need it to pop the hoods of two broken-down scientific instruments on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Ashmore heads a team of more than 35 in Goddard's Crew Aids and Tools Development office in Greenbelt. Their job is to invent and build tools for Hubble servicing missions. For the fifth and final repair call on Hubble, set for May, the astronauts will carry 140 custom tools into orbit - a record. (2/8)

Editorial: It's Premature to Shelve the Shuttle (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has identified the space shuttle retirement date as one of the top 13 urgent decisions facing the government in the near future. NASA is currently planning to retire the shuttle in 2010 and divert money to developing the Constellation program. NASA's projected budget does not permit both at the same time. The first Constellation operational manned flight to the international space station, originally scheduled for 2014, is now estimated to come in the 2015-17 time frame due to various technical, funding and schedule problems. NASA is planning to fill the resulting five- to seven-year gap in U.S. manned spaceflights by buying flights from Russia.

However, paying Russia for flying U.S. astronauts is very unpopular with the public and Congress. Buying flights from Russia was a poor option to begin with, and is now a worse choice. The Russian Soyuz is not without risk to human life, either. Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin quoted an internal NASA Shuttle Probabilistic Risk Assessment as forecasting a 1 chance in 77 that the shuttle would have another accident each time it launches. That assessment is flawed and unreliable. An alternate method of estimating shuttle risk, based primarily on flight experience, is more favorable because it takes into account strong measures to minimize future accidents following those involving the shuttles Challenger and Columbia. In contrast to claims that it is aging and in decline, the shuttle's reliability and safety are actually improving with each flight. (2/8)

One-Way Ticket to Mars (Source: Search)
If we can eliminate the requirement to launch that person off of Mars to bring them back, we remove a major obstacle to mission practicality. Carrying enough rocket fuel to the surface of Mars to permit a launch back into space for a return to Earth, or else somehow manufacturing fuel on Mars for this launch is a technical problem with no solution likely in the next twenty or thirty years. There are current plans for a robotic mission to return a one- or two-pound sample of Mars soil for study. But even the simple rocket needed to bring such a tiny amount of dirt back from Mars will be heavy and technically difficult to land on that planet. For a one-way human mission, significant engineering problems remain, but without the need for a Mars launch, we can plan a program within the scope of available or near-term technology. Click here to view the article. (2/7)

Griffin Says Ares 1 is Two Times Safer than EELV (Source: Florida Today)
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin is unshakably opposed to switching from NASA's Ares 1 rocket to an upgraded Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV. A chief reason: crew safety. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board recommended that NASA retire its aging shuttle fleet as soon as possible. The design of any replacement "should give overriding priority to crew safety," the board said.

"Our probabilistic risk assessment for loss of crew on Ares 1 showed it to be twice as safe -- I repeat, twice as safe -- as a human-rated EELV-derived vehicle," Griffin said recently. "This figure of merit was a significant factor in our decision to go with the shuttle-derived Ares 1, yet is ignored by almost everyone suggesting we make a change," he said. "I cannot responsibly ignore it, for reasons having nothing to do with money." (2/8)

Newsman: Stick With Ares-1 (Source: Florida Today)
Longtime NBC News correspondent Jay Barbree thinks NASA should stick with the "single stick" rocket rather than shift to modified military rockets. A Merritt Island resident who has covered NASA for more than half a century, Barbree favors the Ares 1 rocket because it is designed to fly astronauts rather than satellites. "The thing to do is continue on the track that they're on," he said. "The quicker they can get the space shuttle retired and get the Orion spacecraft built, the better off this country is going to be." (2/8)

NASA Plans for Manned Space Flight in a Holding Pattern (Source: Houston Chronicle)
For Houstonians trying to figure out the future of manned space flight in the Obama administration — if any — it’s beginning to look a lot like dodge ball on a playground. The White House ducks questions about NASA and refers reporters to the space agency. NASA ducks answers and insists it’s awaiting guidance from the White House. Hints of President Barack Obama’s direction are so fleeting that advocates of manned space exploration seize upon his choice of reading material to a second-grade class as a promising sign of things to come.

This much is clear: The leadership of the space agency, the direction it will take and the money it will rely upon are in flux. “It’s a period of watchful waiting,” says John Logsdon, a space historian who formerly headed the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. “The mission to the moon is definitely up for grabs, and it’s conceivable returning to the moon by 2020 could change.” (2/8)

Space: We've Trashed It -- With High-Speed Debris (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Human exploration of space has turned low Earth orbit into a high-tech junkyard. In the five decades since Sputnik, space agencies have littered the night sky with everything from grease guns to dead satellites and even a golf ball -- sliced into orbit by a Russian cosmonaut. Most of these objects fall back to Earth and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere. But some linger in orbit for years and could remain for centuries. This growing ring of rubbish is both dangerous and costly. "Orbital debris still is the No. 1 risk to the space shuttle," said Nick Johnson, who leads NASA's effort to monitor space junk. On any given mission, he estimates that the shuttle is hit thousands of times by tiny bits of old satellites and spacecraft that either fell apart or smashed together. (2/8)

Space Club Luncheon Features Space Florida President (Source: NSC)
The Florida Committee of the National Space Club will hold their next monthly luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cocoa Beach on Feb. 10, beginning at 1:30 a.m. This month's featured speaker is Steve Kohler, president of Space Florida. Visit http://www.nscfl.org/Events.aspx for information on reservations. (2/8)

In Texas, Small Rocketeer Pursues N-Prize (Source: News8Austin)
Monroe Lee King Jr. has always been a space junkie and he's not ashamed of it. He learned everything he knows from his dad, who was an engineer on atomic particle accelerators. But, space travel has always fascinated him. Interest sparked at first with the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30-million competition for the team that can send a robot to the moon. But, Monroe set his sights on a prize a little lower in the alphabet. "The N-Prize (www.n-prize.com), which is a really small prize for sending a very small rocket into orbit," Monroe said. "I think we found a way to do it."

This machinist-by-day hit months of unemployment, a time period that gave birth to Team Prometheus. Monroe is using existing technology to launch a rocket into orbit, and have it circle the earth nine times. This launch, however, will be a little different. Instead of launching it from the ground, he'll float it up first. "What we wanna do is launch from a balloon," he said. Once that rocket gets 20 miles into what scientists call "near space," the rocket will blast off. It sounds pretty convincing, enough for sponsorships and support from a league wanting to make history right along with him. But, Team Prometheus' goals shoot beyond space travel.

"We also want to start an aerospace company, so we can get commercial satellites into orbit cheaper, quicker," he said. "What we want to do is prove it doesn't cost that much to get into orbit, it's not rocket science anymore guys," he said, laughing. Monroe said he plans to launch the rocket in March from Matagorda Island in South Texas. You can keep tabs on Team Prometheus on their Web site at www.teamprometheus.org. (2/5)